‘141,000 children died of pneumonia in 2016’

A new report by Save the Children International, Nigeria, has revealed that the country recorded about 140,520 deaths of under-five children as a result of pneumonia in 2016 alone.

The report also said that about 16 children die every hour as a result of the disease, adding that 4.2 million children aged 12-23 months were not immunised with pneumonia vaccines in the year under review and only 24 per cent of the children with pneumonia symptoms were taken to healthcare facility in 2017.

Save the Children Country Representative, Mr. Ben Foot, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the commemoration of the World Pneumonia Day, said the disease is the fastest leading cause of death of under-five children in the country.

He said: “Pneumonia claims the lives of more children around the world than any other infectious diseases.”

The vast majority of those killed by pneumonia are poor and living in low and middle income countries.”
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